The Greatest Story Told

[Fleur van Houten]

Exploring the forest had been something that was on Fleur's to do list since she entered Hogwarts, but she had left it until now. She knew she didn't want to go on her own, and she had never taken the time to plan it out with someone else. Until now. After playing hide and seek with Mazikeen the two had decided to go on an adventure together, and Mervyn had gotten himself invited along when he delivered a rose to Fleur. She thought this adventure could be a good way to befriend the two very different Gryffindors, and she was excited to see what the forest held.

Under the cover of dusk, they gathered at the edge of the forest. It wasn't too late at night yet, but late enough to be harder to spot from the castle windows. Fleur was confident that they would be fine in the forest, but she didn't really feel like going in in the dead of night either. There was a difference between a sense of adventure and recklessness, after all. She turned to the other two, her wand in her hand. "Let's all cast Lumos once we're in the cover of the trees, so it's not as easy to spot." She said, looking from Mazikeen to Mervyn and back again. "And if we find some sort of creature, we can't harm it, okay? Not even if it startles us." That was important to Fleur. She knew the forest must hold many different interesting creatures, and in a moment of shock one of them might hex them on instinct. She hoped that wouldn't happen, and warning her new friends beforehand might prevent it.

 

[Mervyn Strangewayes]

When Mervyn had asked Fleur to invite him to one of her and Mazikeen's adventures, he hadn't realised he was going to be exploring the forbidden forest; but by the time he found out, it was too late to pull out, lest he look like a coward. He wasn't really scared of the forest. All right, he was a little scared - but it was getting into trouble that frightened him more than any of the creatures lurking in the shadows. Reluctantly he headed down to the edge of the forest at dusk to meet the girls, already inventing excuses as to why he was with them if a professor found them. "Awright," Mervyn said. "If a big 'airy spider comes 'n' chews yer 'ead off, I'll just watch." He wished Leda was here. Things had been awkward between them lately. "Ready when yous are."

 

[Mazikeen Roe]

Mazikeen had definitely been keep to get this adventure underway. She loved the idea of what they were doing and she did not mind sharing said adventure with others. The gryffindor met up with the two, Fleur and the boy whom she’d come to learn was Mervyn. Mervyn had an odd and strong accent but she could deal with that. They were going on an exploration mission. Mazikeen looked between the too and took out her wand when she noted that Fleur had too. She held the wand tightly in her hand, but mazikeen was never going to admit that she was a little nervous about what could be awaiting them in the forest. It could be anything. Mazikeen cast a lumos spell and when the boy made a comment about spiders she shuddered a little but marched on in, ”I hope you guys have your running shoes on,” the girl thought that if visit the forest was that dangerous being able to run away was a good thing, but also that they were better in a little group. ”What do you think they keep in here?” maze found herself asking as she glanced towards the tops of the trees.
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[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur gazed at the trees for a moment before turning her attention to Mervyn, who of course had to have some snarky comment about her condition. Fleur loved animals, and could only imagine what sort of magical creatures were living in the forest. Honestly, if there were really Acromantula in the forest, a part of Fleur would be thrilled to see them even though she logically knew it would mean they were in a lot of danger. She glanced down at herself, then at Mazikeen before looking back at Mervyn with a grin. "Actually, I think you look most like a tasty spider snack out of the three of us. We're probably safe." She joked, she turned to Mazikeen and nodded. "We'll run away if anything dangerous happens, and we'll stick together." She said. "Let's go." Fleur took the lead in their little group, appearing braver than she felt. "I'm sure they're not keeping anything too lethal. I've heard there's centaurs here, even unicorns." She said, hoping to steer the topic away from anything more dangerous than that before one of them lost their nerve. This had definitely seemed less scary when she had been planning it in the safety of the common room, but she was still very curious. Mazikeen's question was actually going through her own mind too, as she was sure there were creatures in the forest she hadn't heard of yet. Fleur wanted to meet them. As the edge of the forest disappeared from view behind them, the darkness of the trees made it feel like it was later at night than it really was. She shot a nervous grin at her two friends. "If there's anything else in here, maybe we'll find it."

 

[Mervyn Strangewayes]

"Main course, per'aps," Mervyn shot back, with a grin. "You'll be the starter, 'n' Maz'll be puddin'." He nodded at the instructions to stick together, quietly thinking that he didn't really need to be told to run away if they encountered something dangerous. As they entered the forest, Mervyn cast Lumos; with all three of their wands lit it wasn't really too dark, though the shadows between the distant trees did look very black. "Nah, there's well worse fings than that," Mervyn said cheerfully, one hand in his pocket. "'Ole packs of werewolves, 'uge flyin' bats wot pick you up by yer 'ead 'n' carry you away, man-eatin' rats as big as 'orses. I'm sure won't see any of those, though - 'n' there is unicorns, too."

 

[Mazikeen Roe]

Mazikeen would happy to be eaten last of the three, "I'd make an excellent pudding," she said with a bright expression despite the dark subject matter they were discussing. She did think she would make an excellent final course, but it did also give her the greatest opportunity to get away. She'd be loyal to her companions but if all hope was lost and she was last to be eaten she'd certainly want to try and prevent that from happening. The three lumos spells did help them see in this dark, but it was still not a very welcoming place. She couldn't help but feel less confident as she stepped forward first, a few steps ahead of the others before they caught up. She was more reassuring when they did catch up, but the forest was still a rather creepy place. "I think it would be fun to meet some centaurs or some unicorns," she said honestly, she liked what Fleur thought they might find more so than Mervyn. None of that sounded particularly good to run into. "Why even have such things so close to a school where we can just walk in?" Mazikeen spoke quieter as they walked, "Is there just no where else for them to go?" if that was the case then Maze might feel a little bad.
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[Fleur van Houten]

Fleur couldn't help but laugh softly at Mervyn's joke about the order they would be eaten in. She thought perhaps his lighthearted humor would keep this from being too scary. The darkness was really deep outside their little bubble of Lumos spells, but Fleur was confident this trip would be fun and not at all terrifying. But her opinion on Mervyn's ability to keep the mood light changed considerably at his next words. She frowned and turned to him with one hand on her hip. "First of all, there's no full moon tonight so if there would be werewolves here they would just be regular people. And why would they live in the woods? The school would never let werewolves roam around here so near a school." She said with a small glance at Mazikeen. The girl was younger than them both, so Fleur thought she was perhaps the likeliest to be scared. "And I've never heard about these bats or man eating rats. I think you're full of it." She said with a slight huff as she turned away from him again to continue leading the group. "If we do find a unicorn you have to stay at a distance, they don't like boys." She nodded to Mazikeen. "And I think there's definitely centaurs too." She added with a smile. "I don't know how many actual dangerous things there are here, but it is probably because they have no better place for them. And whatever creatures are in the forest are probably not going to attack without being disturbed." Even as she said it, she realized that barging into their territory in the evening would probably count as disturbing them, but she decided not to say that out loud.

 

[Mervyn Strangewayes]

Mervyn already liked Mazikeen. She might have been younger than him and Fleur, but she had a good sense of humour and apparently a penchant for adventure. He rolled his eyes as Fleur ruined his fun with logic and fact. What was the point of exploring the forbidden forest if they weren't going to be scared? It was like telling a spooky story around the fireside but pointing out every thirty seconds that it was only fiction. "Sexist," Mervyn interjected, though even if it wasn't fair, he knew Fleur was right about the unicorns. "We are disturbin' 'em," he pointed out unhelpfully. "We could be walkin' froo a centaur's back garden right now." Lifting his wand, he shone it this way and that, pushing back the darkness and squinting into the trees. Was it just him, or was the forest kind of cold? He shivered, shrugging it off.

 

[Mazikeen Roe]

Mazikeen was a little less sure that this school wouldn’t have werewolves near it, they were just regular people most of the time, and though it was rare there had to be a contingency by the school in they did have any or any came close. The young Gryffindor didn’t say anything about the matter, allowing instead for Fleur to just say whatever she needed to about them, there was no full moon so they wouldn’t run the risk of running into any werewolves, certainly not when they were in their werewolf form. ”Well, there’s a spell that makes bats fly out of noses so it might not be so wild to have those sorts of bats,” Maze shrugged a little, giving a little giggle about the unicorns and Mervyn’s comment following it, ”I heard if you drink unicorn blood you can live forever,” she added with a bit of a conspiratorial tone, she didn’t know the first thing about unicorns, she hadn’t even been aware that they might not like boys. ​

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She couldn’t help but wondered a little why that could be but she couldn’t really think of any reason. Perhaps it would be something she’d learn when she finally got the chance to start Care of Magical creatures, which perhaps they had both done, ”Centaurs living in a school wouldn’t hurt the students right?” the girl sounded a little concerned as she spoke, she knew it was dangerous and noting that Mervyn had raised his wand, raised hers a little too, though she couldn’t say she’d be of much help against centaurs, ”Are you guys good at running?” she asked trying to lighten the mood and also because she knew it would be useful, ”If we stick together it’ll be okay, surely, there are three of us, and we’ve all got magic, plus,” the gryffindor paused, ”It’s worth it, look at how interesting this forest is,” Mazikeen smiled at them, a little nervously but she meant what she said. It was an interesting place, ”Maybe we should play a game?” It might help them and how brave they would then feel in the forest.​

 

[Fleur van Houten]

The small group slowly progressed into the forest, and Fleur started to wonder how big it was, exactly, and what lay on the other side of it. She didn’t think they would find out today, as that was probably far away, but she was curious about it. She rolled her eyes when Mervyn called it sexist that unicorns liked girls better, and didn’t dignify that with a response even though she could have launched into a speech about what sexism actually was. She decided to spare him for now because it was obvious he was just joking. When Mervyn pointed out that maybe they were disturbing them, Fleur sighed softly. He seemed to put everything she wanted to keep unsaid into words. “Well, we’ll just have to make sure not to trample anyone’s vegetable garden.” She said as she glanced down at her feet. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.” She smiled when Mazikeen spoke up. It seemed like her worries about scaring the younger girl were unfounded, and she started to like her more and more. “Right, that’s true.” She said about the spell. “But I’ve never heard of giant bats who pick you up by your head.” Her words about unicorn blood gave Fleur pause. She had read a lot about the creatures. “It has properties like that, but it comes at a terrible price, apparently.” That was what the book had said, though it hadn’t gone into any specifics.


As they continued, Mazikeen asked a question about centaurs which made Fleur reconsider that maybe she was more scared than she was letting on. She glanced at the younger girl with a reassuring smile. “I’m sure they wouldn’t. Why live near a school if you hate kids, right?” She said with a shrug. “If we run into one, maybe we can ask questions about the forest. I’m sure they know everything.” She glanced at the two with their raised wands, wondering if they were seeing something she hadn’t spotted. “I’m great at running,” she said in a matter of fact tone. “And we will stick together if anything happens.” The Gryffindor was glad when Mazikeen said it was worth it. At least she hadn’t dragged the girl out here only for her to hate it. She grinned at her friend and nodded. “It really is interesting,” she said softly, looking around. “I bet it holds so many creatures and plants we’ve never even heard of…” But Mazikeen’s next suggestion distracted her from her wondering. “What sort of game?” She asked, glancing at Mervyn too in case he had some sort of suggestion.